Friday, July 26, 2013

In Ancient Times

Today's formative-album replay: Vangelis, Chariots of Fire. I don't think I'd want to meet my 13-year-old self:
He was an insufferable Anglophile who didn't realize The Preppy Handbook was satire, who had renounced pop for classical music (the
fever broke soon enough), and who nonetheless fancied himself some kind
of leftist (in Reagan-era Arizona, no less). How did l survive middle
school without severe and regular beatings?

In
addition to the usual PBS fare, the twin watersheds that rocked my world
in 1981 were the interminable miniseries of Brideshead Revisited and
this earnest track-and-field fable, the only sports movie I've ever
embraced (corollary question to the above: How did I turn out
straight?). My inordinate love for this deeply silly bit of British
folderol must explain why I overcame my distaste for both non-classical music and synthesizers and happily put its execrable soundtrack into heavy rotation.

It
is really hard now to recapture that youthful affection, even
ironically; this feast of analog electronica, bristling with sounds that
are alternately skin-crawling and eyelid-weighing, isn't
even good bad music. A few of the midrange-bell-chime sounds don't
bother me as much as, say, the crinkly-silver starburst chime sounds,
and there's still something affectingly brooding about the warmish,
wounded-sounding electric-piano meditation "Abraham's Theme" (remember
the film's awkward anti-Semitism angle?). But all those fake seagull
bleats, ersatz horns, plastic-ice-cube piano, and shuddering timpani,
not to mention the whackadoodle UFO landing that leads into an
otherworldly rendition of the hymn "Jerusalem"--I can only hear this
record now as a youthful indiscretion. Geoffrey Burgon's psuedo-stately soundtrack for Brideshead is admittedly no masterpiece, but it sounds all the
better in contrast with this glittering turd.

Comments:Joe Drymalayour 13-year-old self and my 13-year-old self would have totally nerded out together.Catherine Trieschmann MillerI will unabashedly love CofF forever, soundtrack & all. I was surprised, however, to realize that I saw this movie in the theater & fell in love with it when I was 7. Could I really have been that young?Rob Weinert-KendtI should revisit the movie, too, I guess...but the soundtrack, feh. (And thanks for making me feel old.)Jimb FisherBelieve it or not, I listened to Vangelis quite a bit when I was in high school. Always thought CoF was his lamest effort despite the iconic main theme. As far as soundtracks go, his music for Blade Runner and The Bounty were far superior and their old-timey synth sounds have aged much better.Mark WatkinsI spent a month this year tracking down and listening to all versions of Blade Runner soundtrack pieces -->Carrie Yoshimura FarnhamThis was a fun trip down memory lane. I'm sure I would be horrified by my 80s self if I met her today. I do remember that the run on the beach to this anachronistic music seemed really cool at the time, but Chariots could not hold a candle to Brideshead. I had s stuffed dog named in part after Sebastian Flyte.Keythe FarleyTwo words: Chuck Mangione http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zq3qq-4Z1YJoe McDadeOkay. Find the two common elements in these three movies: "Chariots of Fire," "Stealing Home," "The Trial of Billy Jack." One is a concentration on a specific sport ranging from text ("Chariots") to, ancillary subject ("Trial," with the kung fu). The other? All three movies have that "Huh? What?" element: the flashback-within-a-flashback.Joe McDadeYou and I traveled in separate directions with "Brideshead," pal; I became hopelessly addicted in my twenties and watch it end-to-end once a year. Maybe for a world I'll never know. Non et in Arcadia Ego, unfortunately.